Disneyland!

I am finally on the last day of our vacation! And I have to start with this story: We decided we wanted to surprise the kids with a day at an amusement park this trip, so we debated about Disneyland, Sea World or Legoland. We finally decided (with the incentive of one free admission thanks to our Disney-employee friend) to go for the big one and take the kids to The Happiest Place on Earth. Daddy-o was so excited to see their reactions when we told them that morning, so we got out the camera to video it and he gets them all set up and then tells them, "Guess what, guys? We're going to Disneyland today!" Bean instantly gets this almost forced look of excitement and Bugaboo looks horrified and yells, "My wanted to go to Sea World!" We have no idea where that came from since he really had no idea what either place was--we'd only mentioned the animals at Sea World a couple times and he saw a big sign at the airport, but apparently that was his dream.

Despite it not being Sea World, they both had a great time that day.

Bugaboo wasn't too sure about his first ride, Peter Pan's Flight, but he loved Dumbo (that's his favorite movie) and luckily he even got the yellow Dumbo. We weren't so lucky later on the tea cups and he threw a fit when he had to ride in a pink one.

Smiles like that make it worth the hundreds of dollars it costs to take a family to Disneyland these days.

Daddy-o's roommate, Will, and his family decided to join us for the day. It took the kids awhile to warm up to each other, but by the afternoon, they were all having a lot of fun which helped with the long wait in the lines.

I think that their favorite time was in Toon Town:

Bean LOVED the rollercoaster. I think she's a little thrill-seeker.

Hanging out in Mickey's house with Will's oldest daughter.

Bugaboo takes firetrucks and driving very seriously.

Catching a ride on the fire truck.

And what's better than ice cream for dinner. The kids actually ate a real dinner too, but I decided that I really didn't need both and the ice cream sundae won.

The kids loved the parade. Bugaboo got down and started to dance at one point. It's nice that they do these a couple times a day so you can see all the characters at once instead of waiting in line to see them at their various homes.

Watching the parade:

I hadn't ridden the tea cups in forever since I tend to get a little motion sick, but the two dads wanted to see how fast they could get their teacups to go, so I ended up taking 3 of the kids with me--luckily, they weren't too good at spinning it so I ended up being okay. The guys weren't feeling so good after their spin.

Daddy-o with the two little boys on small world--I just thought they all look cute--Daddy-o is so big compared to these little guys.

I can't beleive we made it until 10 p.m. The kids really wanted to ride the new Nemo ride, which had a really long line all day, so we waited until pretty late and then still had a 40 min. wait. About halfway into it, the kids all started to lose it, but we pulled out a bunch of snacks and managed to keep them happy until we got on the submarines and it was worth it--that ride was well done and they really liked it. And then we got to see the fireworks as we were getting ready to leave, so it was perfect timing.

And then our trip was over. It was strange driving home from Disneyland and realizing that we weren't just going to our home in SD, but getting ready to fly back across the country the next day. After a week of playing with friends and in old favorite spots, we felt like we'd never left. And honestly, I could have done without the trip home. The kids didn't do quite as well as on the way out there. But we made it home safe and sound and got to enjoy sleeping in for a few mornings while we all adjusted to the time change.